A young Menelaus blue morpho, categorized as butterfly, lays its eggs and waits for her children to emerge in this curious world. She awaits at the small creak of a willow tree that she has come to call home. All the while, at a not so distant place, where the flowers once blossomed and light bulbs lit up brilliantly like ideas, a human child’s eyes open to see the distorted light glowing upon the world. Everything is unfamiliar, beyond of anyone’s consent or idea. Two strangers look down on him, smiling like there was no tomorrow.
Not all the eggs have survived, save for one, the smallest among them. The egg at first, turns into larva, then into small, multicolor caterpillar that happily frolics across the leaves and the world around it. It feeds and grows, oblivious of any danger looming around it. Fearless, curious and, reckless to the point of endangerment and all the while with a very tangible mind. The child has learnt to walk, talk, write and understand this never-ending world of mystery that surrounds him. He interacts and develops all the same qualities as the small insignificant caterpillar. Devoid of any fear, all but curious. The question circling around them is not whether they are living fruitfully.
The question is that who among them is destined for the greatness that the world demands?
The young caterpillar forms its delicate cocoon. It has become strong with food and the fresh unpolluted air surrounding the willow tree. The place its mother had come to call home and so has it. It has acquired all there is to know in this small yet blissful world. Regret does loom above his head sometimes for its mother’s death. She was not old nor young but at a viable, perishable age. Her loss made it feel powerless and weak, yes, but it was about to happen sooner or later. Nothing could’ve prevented it and neither can anyone prevent the youth to move on and be stronger.
The human that was once a child is now a young adult. Shaped ruthlessly without compassion by the world into the man he is today. Still curious, but too powerless and worthless. He has come to realize that he is not destined for greatness. That greatness and power itself is a delusion. Coming to know this has made his existence ordinary, negligible, unnecessary.
The caterpillar is in its cocoon, slowly but beautifully transforming into a beautiful butterfly gifted with grace and beauty.
He must do something, anything that can reduce the sense of smallness, the sense of being forsaken. He must earn the illusion of greatness he was destined to achieve.
The cocoon is still. It is indifferent to the illusion of power and greatness.
A blue butterfly with black-lined and white speckled wing, symmetrical to the very line, emerges out of the air and flies into the oblivion, it feels omnipotent and in control of its existence. Nothing can deprive it of its choice of indifference to the topics deemed important by society. It knows no boundaries and is not bound to anyone or anything. With its new strong wings, it flies over trees, houses only to fly down a paved road and follow its trail. It knows where it must go.
The man lost to his world, and desire, aimlessly wanders down a road. Feeling drained and powerless only to see his salvation fly over his head. A small, yet beautiful butterfly adorned with grace and beauty. Free, from all the bounds of the world, omnipotent in self-regard.
He realizes that all who understand the importance of indifference and seeking, are omnipotent. He has learnt what he has been taught but he still has not learnt to acquire his own.
So that leads us to the question that circled them from the starting to the peak of their existence.
Who is it that is actually destined for greatness?
Written By: Joyeeta Das
Edited by: Anusriya Rahman